Rockford man pleads guilty to orchestrating mall terrorism plot

A home-grown jihadist who longed to wage holy war in Rockford pleaded guilty Wednesday for scheming to attack holiday shoppers at CherryVale Mall.

Sadie Gurman

A home-grown jihadist who longed to wage holy war in Rockford pleaded guilty Wednesday for scheming to attack holiday shoppers at CherryVale Mall.

Derrick Shareef, 23, could be sentenced to life in prison March 14. He pleaded guilty to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Shareef had concocted a plan to detonate hand grenades in mall garbage cans Dec. 22, 2006, just as shoppers geared up for the holidays. His plan was foiled when he revealed it to an undercover FBI informant.

An agent arrested Shareef in a Walton Road parking lot after he agreed to trade stereo speakers for four faulty grenades and a pistol. Shareef’s goal, according to a federal complaint, was to “let the enemies of Islam know, and to let the Muslims alike know that the time for jihad is now.”

Shareef’s admission Wednesday was a reversal from the not-guilty plea he gave U.S. District Judge David Coar in January. It also came without a prearranged agreement with federal prosecutors, said U.S. attorney spokesman Randall Samborn.

Samborn was unsure why Shareef opted to change his plea, with his trial only two weeks away.

“That’s a question that only he or his lawyer could answer,” Samborn said. Shareef’s attorney, Michael Mann, could not be reached for comment.

The government, Samborn said, will likely drop a second charge of attempted arson because Shareef already faces a possibility of life in prison.

The thwarted terrorist attack thrust Rockford into the national spotlight, while authorities and residents questioned how — and why — the unassuming community became a target. Still, authorities have said they never believed the public was in any real danger and that Shareef was acting alone.

The FBI had been watching Shareef since Sept. 2006, when he met the informant and told him he fantasized about waging a violent jihad. Shareef jumped from target to target in subsequent conversations, mentioning “courthouses, city hall, government places, government facilities.” He settled on the mall for a grenade attack, authorities said, because he knew it would be crowded with holiday shoppers.

“The last thing anybody gonna be thinking about at the mall is a grenade,” he told the informant.

Staff writer Sadie Gurman can be reached at 815-987-1389 or sgurman@rrstar.com.